xAI subsidiary offers to buy Southaven homes if owners don't join noise lawsuit

Left · 2Real estate agents acting for xAI have been going door to door in the Colonial Hills neighbourhood of Southaven, Mississippi, offering to buy houses as long as the owners agree not to join a lawsuit over noise from the company's nearby power plant, according to the Guardian. 1 2 Left · 1A realtor told one resident the target is to buy 418 homes, with 18 homeowners already agreeing to sell, according to a recording the Guardian heard; xAI did not respond to questions about these numbers or its plans for the neighbourhood. 1 Left · 2A letter given to residents from MZX, the xAI subsidiary that operates the site, denies the allegations but says it "requires property for its business purposes"; accepting would mean signing a release that bars claims related to the plant, including the Haley lawsuit, as quoted from a Mississippi Free Press report by The Verge. 1 2

Left · 2County records show five neighbourhood homes have been bought by MZX since 9 October, according to the Guardian, and The Verge reports that renters say they are being given 60 days' notice after their landlords agreed to sell. 1 2 Left · 1The realtor and Southaven's mayor, Darren Musselwhite, say the homes will house xAI staff; the mayor said the buyout is not intended to be a company city at this point, and praised the datacenters for tax revenue, jobs and opportunity. 1 Left · 1Three residents filed the lawsuit in June, citing "near-constant noise, vibrations and other nuisance-level harms". Plaintiff Jason Haley and neighbour Gavin Foust described the sound as like an airplane or jet engine, and Foust said he would not accept the offer because of the no-suit condition. Resident Elizabeth Rose said the buyout could turn the area into "Elonville". 1

Left · 1xAI denies the noise allegations, has said it cares about being a good neighbour, and says it has varied its power output and built sound-dampening walls. In July it agreed with state regulators to replace the temporary turbines with a permanent gas-fired plant by next summer. 1 Left · 2The site has 69 temporary gas turbines, which the US Environmental Protection Agency has determined run without permits required by federal law; the Southern Environmental Law Center estimates $44m in annual health costs from their emissions. The NAACP and environmental groups sued in April, and The Verge reports a federal judge blocked the Trump administration's attempt to dismiss that suit earlier this month. 1 2 Left · 1The Verge adds context on growing opposition to AI data centres before the midterm elections: Memphis City Council rejected a one-year moratorium and adopted a 135-day construction pause, and SpaceXAI reported up to $6.1 million in potential civil penalties and more than $220 million in claims of unpaid bills. 2